Whether by miscarriage or stillbirth, the loss of a baby can greatly impact a family.

In June, first-time parents Amy and Jason Kubbins found themselves suddenly delivering twins at just 20 weeks of pregnancy without any mental preparation for a loss.

Amy, a 32-year-old emergency room nurse who had been trying to get pregnant for three years, went into the hospital because of back pain. She delivered their twins 12 hours later. The babies — Kaden and Kaci — weighed 8.5 and 10.5 ounces. Their birth and death certificates read June 22, 2009, and are just 36 minutes apart. “It was not a viable birth, being just 20 weeks’ gestation, but Aultman’s staff treated them as life, not a miscarriage. And that is very important for closure and healing for us,” Amy said. “We have very positive memories of our first babies, and that would not have happened without the photos, video, keepsakes and compassion that the Aultman staff orchestrated.”

According to Melinda Wiles, program coordinator, the Aultman Birth Center staff has been providing bereavement services for many years and developed a formalized bereavement program about three years ago. The program recently received a $5,130 grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s office to provide additional help and support to families like the Kubbins. Families receive educational and support materials, mementos to remember the baby by and are invited to a remembrance ceremony each October. With the help of the grant, Wiles expanded the materials and mementos provided to each family to better facilitate grief and start the healing process.

Amy Kubbins said their box of keepsakes and photos of their loved ones with the babies are displayed in their home. She and her husband did not attend the remembrance ceremony this year because she was pregnant again with twins. On Nov. 4, twin boys Landen and Braxton were born and spent just one week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.